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Assassination Drone Warfare

Whiteman Air
Force Base - Knob Noster, MO

Military Drone Training & Navigation

On
Feb. 1, 2010, the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base became part of the
newly created Air Force Global Strike Command. In February 2010, the 20th
Reconnaissance Squadron, a ground control station for unmanned aerial drones,
began operation at the base. The General
Atomics MQ-1 Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle UAV (drone) used
primarily by the United States Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency.
Initially conceived in the early 1990s for reconnaissance and forward
observation roles, the Predator carries cameras and other sensors but has been modified and upgraded to carry and
fire two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles or other munitions.

Following
2001, the RQ-1 Predator drone became the primary UAV used for offensive
operations by the USAF and the CIA in Afghanistan and the Pakistani tribal
areas; it has also been deployed elsewhere. Because offensive uses of the Predator are classified, U.S. military
officials have reported an appreciation for the intelligence and reconnaissance
- gathering abilities of UAVs but declined
to publicly discuss their offensive use. - Wikipedia

"The
Predators in the CIA program are “flown” by civilians, both intelligence
officers and private contractors.Once
the drones are aloft, the controls are electronically “slewed over” to a set of
“reachback operators” in the States. Using joysticks that resemble video-game
controls, the reachback operators - who don’t need conventional flight training
- sit next to intelligence officers and watch, on large flat-screen monitors, a
live video feed from the drone’s camera.
People who have seen an air strike live on a monitor described it as
both awe-inspiring and horrifying.Cut off from the
realities of the bombings in Pakistan, Americans have been insulated from the
human toll, as
well as from the political and the moral consequences."- The New Yorker 10/26/09

“Drones are a technological step that
further isolates the American people from military action, undermining
political checks on . . . endless war.”

“Even one child death from
drone missiles or suicide bombings is one child death too many. Children have
no place in war and all parties should do their utmost to protect children from
violent attacks at all times.” - Sarah Crowe, UNICEF

"There
is a huge margin of error, often because of faulty intelligence, and civilian
casualties are mounting. According to Pakistan bodycount, 2867 people have been
killed or injured by drones in Pakistan alone, with a 2.5% success rate against
Al-Qaida. Figures for Afganistan and Iraq are unknown. There is also no
measure for the terror and psychological damage being done to the millions of
children and adults who are in the constant sights of these unmanned
systems."

“Under
what code does the C.I.A. operate? I don’t know. The military operates under a
legal code, and it has judicial mechanisms." He said of the C.I.A.’s drone program, “There
should be a limited, finite group of people who are targets, and that list
should be publicly defensible and available. Instead, it’s not being publicly
defended. People are being killed, and we generally require some public
justification when we go about killing people.”